


Midnight City

by ciaoknives



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, M/M, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-04
Updated: 2012-12-09
Packaged: 2017-11-20 08:09:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/583156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciaoknives/pseuds/ciaoknives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Zayn had always been set on making it big in the photography industry. But when Harry finds himself in a life painting class at university where the model is that cute, feathery haired barista from that café he only realised existed; late night coffees, messy paint fights and love unfold. Also includes Niall/Liam and drunken spiels about how Harry is going to bag Louis for himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is from [this](http://1dkinkmeme.livejournal.com/2628.html?thread=1689668#t1689668) prompt at the 1D kink meme. It will be a chaptered, AU fic! I was the anon that originally started posting this but abandoned it and now have started it up again, so things may be slightly different from when I originally began posting it. I hope you all like this! :3

He was pretty sure he had already pressed the snooze button three times this morning.

Despite his foggy-minded state, he was 99 per cent sure that a fourth time would just be giving it a run for his money.

In no longer than half an hour, he was trudging his way out the door.

Harry Styles turned the collar of his pea coat up as he tried to fight the freezing wind that pushed its way throughout London. Rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes, he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

_7:00 am, cold as fuck and you know you wouldn’t have been here walking to the bloody bus stop if you just talked to the faculty sooner, Styles. Why the hell is it this cold in late September anyway? Bloody London and your temperamental weather._

Harry was in his second year at university studying Fine Arts. He was majoring in photography—it was all part of Zayn’s master plan to revolutionise the industry— but after confusion with his faculty and credits lost here and there, he was forced to complete a semester of landscape painting and art history.

Painting wasn’t really his thing at all. But still, after much deliberation with the faculty, he figured he could just do it anyway. Given his choices, a semester’s worth of making up for credits at something he was bad at beat a whole year of making up for credits at something he wasn’t _that_ bad at. Additionally, after much help from his best friend, Zayn insisted that Harry finishing his degree sooner would be beneficial to his master plan.

Tired, and so close to falling asleep upright, the bus swooped around and Harry was out of the bitter cold. Even if only for a good fifteen minutes or so.

With a nameless tune playing through his head and his feet feeling like they were going to frost over with every step, Harry walked around the back entrance to the university. With the way the wind was blowing, the massive buildings that stood in the middle of London shielded him from the callousness the wind decided to taint the city with this particular morning.

Walking the unfamiliar path up to the university, Harry admired how peaceful and empty the grounds were. But then he remembered it was because it was too goddamned early and people were at home in their warm beds. Sleeping. _Bed. Oh, how I wish._

The majority of all his classes were in the buildings on the other side of the university. The studios he used for photography were close to a lot of the studios and theatres used by film and television majors; they shared a lot of the same facilities. Hence, Harry’s home at university was separate from a lot of the fine arts buildings as well as the head faculty office. He’d only ventured to this side of the university on a handful of occasions—a lot more in recent times as he tried to argue his way out of this Landscape Painting class to no avail.

Feeling the cold of the winter seeping through his jeans to his icy skin and still early, he figured a warm cup of coffee would be a satisfying, but still crappy alternative. However, as well as his familiarity on the other side of the university was the usual café that he would hang out at before classes. It was pretty central in the university so it was always bustling— especially at godforsaken hours like this in the morning with uni students trying to get their caffeine fix. And even though he’d normally love a tall cappuccino with one sugar and extra chocolate from Lou, the cute girl who Harry had become friends with since starting university, his sleep ridden self just couldn’t be bothered trekking what would feel like 5 kilometres.

Still with 20 minutes to kill, he plopped himself down on a nearby bench and considered giving Zayn an early wake up call whining about how bus schedules were stupid, and he could only catch this bus which arrived 20 minutes early for class but if he caught the next one he’d be 20 minutes late for class. But that would involve removing his hands from his warm pockets. And energy. Both of which Harry just did not have at this time on a Monday morning.

Contemplating on whether the bench he was sitting would be good as a makeshift bed, Harry decided he may as well explore the grounds a little and walked around the corner closer to the building where his class was. A café that he had never seen before seemed to be open. _Just when think it’s gone to shit, this appears. Thank fuck._

With no hesitation he walked straight in. He was desperate for that small kick to get his day going and he figured that the coffee couldn’t be that bad.

_Yes Harry, expand your horizons and try something new. This is definitely not out of pure laziness to walk the hundred or so metres to the other side of uni. But if it really is bad, mental note of the day: accommodate walking time to get coffee from Lou._

The small chime of bells ringing overhead upon entering, the hidden café was completely empty apart from the low hum of the heater and whistling of the espresso machine.

Walking up to the counter, there was a small stand with the breakfast specials written on them as well as ‘Now open 24 hours’ sprawled underneath.

He was immediately snapped out of his lulling reverie of why on Earth a university café would be open for 24 hours by the chipper voice of the barista in front of him.

“Morning sunshine, what can I get you?”

“As if you guys are open 24 hours, does it really get all that busy at 4 in the morning?” Harry asked whilst still looking at the sign, genuinely interested in such a trivial thing.

The barista giggled lightly, warm and friendly.

Harry looked up from the sign and at the boy in front of him.

He was furrowing his eyebrows at Harry but that soon grew to a fond look. Grinning from ear to ear; eyes crinkling softly around the sides.

Harry wasn’t sure whether it was the fact that he was so tired, but he couldn’t help but let a light, dizzy feeling wash across him. The boy’s smile was infectious; he couldn’t help but smile with him and laughing at his own ridiculous remark.

“You’d actually be surprised by the amount of students that stay around campus trying to beat deadlines or cram for assessments the next day,” he replied. “Although we’re only open 24/7 during semester so this is has been my first night shift in a long time. Don’t know why Grace insists on having the shop open 24/7 so early in the semester though. No stressful assignments on the first day of uni though. Well, I’d hope.”

Harry took a step closer to the counter.

The boy was gorgeous. His blue eyes were clear, but Harry noticed the dark circles underneath them that seemed to dampen his otherwise flawless face. The poor boy must have just worked some godforsaken hours. Knowing that if Harry himself ever had to endure working such ridiculous hours and how absolutely shit he’d both look and feel, he mentally congratulated on how lively the worker seemed to be. His skin had a natural radiating tan and Harry was stunned by how he seemed to be glowing despite London’s non-existent sun. And that hair. Harry could only dream of getting it to that feathery perfection.

“So how long have you been working here, then?” Harry asked.

“You mean in general or tonight— I mean, today?” he laughed.

“Hmmmm, why not both?”

“Well I’ve been working here for a couple of years,” he replied. He then pointed to where he was standing. “And I’ve been working here since midnight.”

“Oh god, that must be killer!” Harry said, genuinely surprised.

“It’s not too bad. I get paid double time to work by myself, play music really loud for 8 hours and fix my hair in the reflection of the table top counter. And when I get really tired, putting the chairs together makes for an alright makeshift bed for a power nap. Well, until the next person walks through the door and I chat with them for a bit and don’t feel like the world has actually stopped revolving. Seeing as we’re kind of on the outskirts of the uni, there’s always the random students at weird hours of the morning looking for food after a night out. Oh, and I of course drink lots of coffee. That’s what gets me through these shifts,” he rambled on, placing a hand on the big espresso machine next to him. Harry thought it was endearing, the boy probably hadn’t talked to anyone for a while.

 _Reflection of the table top counter. Must remember that._ Harry dismissively noted.

“That actually really doesn’t sound all that bad. At least when I’m trying to finish assignments in the library at 2 in the morning, I now know where to go for my study break.”

“Procrastination break?”

Harry laughed. _Ah, so true._

“Precisely. I’m Harry, by the way,” he said, extending his hand forward. He didn’t know why he was but this guy seemed nice enough, so why not?

The boy reluctantly looked at Harry’s hand before easing up and shaking it anyway.

“I’m Louis. Now what can I get you, Harry?”

 

*** 

As Louis finished making Harry his cappuccino, a woman bustled through the door in a flurry.

“Louis! Morning love! How did the night go?” she asked brightly.

“Not too bad thanks, Grace! That chocolate cake you baked for out back was so good. I may or may not have eaten the rest of it during the night,” Louis laughed as he handed Harry his drink. Harry gave him one his beaming smiles to say thank you as Louis continued to talk to what he assumed was his manager.

That laugh. God, how he sounded so cheerful when outside was complete misery was beyond Harry. But he liked the way that Louis’s laugh reverberated against the walls of the small café. It made him feel strangely calm.

“Oh, well that’s great to hear! Speaking of however, I made some banana bread this morning for breakfast for me and Eleanor when she comes in, but help yourself to some before you head off.”

The woman placed the tote bag she was carrying down carefully on the table and took out a container. Before she even opened it, Harry could already smell the beautiful bread as if it had come straight out of the oven. It reminded him of home and a pang of quick sadness washed over him; he had been way overdue for a good homecooked meal.

The thought didn’t linger for too long as he realised that the woman began to talk to him.

“And how’s your morning been, darling? Freezing out there innit?” she asked kindly towards Harry. He watched as she put on an apron and her manager’s badge on and while Louis began to pick on the crispy edges of the bread. Harry smiled back politely.

“Definitely! Felt like I was about to freeze over walking from the bus stop to here. Be happy to know that this is going to good use,” he replied, holding up his coffee.

“I’m glad to know, love! Anyway Louis, please feel free to head off early. I know you’ve got a class at 8.”

“Thanks Grace! I’ll pop in after I’m done to say hi to El. Although, just be warned if it’s busy, I’m not letting you rope me in to help till it dies down,” he said cheekily before disappearing out back.

Harry didn’t know what to do with himself. He didn’t know whether to wait for Louis to grab his stuff so they could walk out together since they both had classes at 8, or wait so he could ask him what he was studying, or should he say bye to Grace because she seemed sweet and it was polite, or wait and thank Louis for the unexpected but lovely morning or wait because really, he just wanted to continue talking with him.

Realising that all of this was completely stupid, he turned around to walk out. _You have your coffee and that’s all you came in for anyway._

Before his thoughts could catch up to his actions, he felt someone poking at his sides.

“You’re still here, Harry. Don’t want to go to class, eh?”

Harry turned to look at Louis and felt a pathetically cheesy grin swamp his face.

“It starts at 8. I can stretch it out for a little bit longer, I guess. What about you? You’ve got class now too?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

Louis pushed open the door of the café and Harry could see him visibly shaking from the shock of the cool air.

“Oooh, well that’s different after sitting in the café with the heater blasted right up for 8 hours,” He shoved his hands into his jeans, embracing the cold winter morning. “Anyway, I’ll see you around. Nice talking to you, Harry!”

And with that, he was gone.

Harry walked back around the corner to the bench he was sitting on earlier to finish his coffee. His morning had been so electrifying but he figured that with the day he knew he had ahead of him, it probably wouldn’t get any better than the small talk and coffee from the cute barista and the café he had no idea existed as of half an hour ago.

_Not even 8:00 am and your day has already peaked. Good one, Styles. Better be a good best mate and pre-empt Zayn to my shitty mood before I get home._

Harry sighed as he walked back around to the bench to finish off his drink before chucking his empty coffee cup out and trudging up the stairwell to his class.

 

***

 

Harry made sure to arrive as close to 8 am as he could without being late. He hated the first class awkward small chit chat and made a physical attempt to avoid it as much as possible. He’d already dug himself into a negative mind space with the all the fuss about being enrolled in the class that skin deep he convinced himself that making friends with cliquey hipsters wasn’t worth it. However deep down, he knew that having friends in the class would make trying to pass the class a lot easier. Frankly he couldn’t care less. He was a photography student, full stop.

Upon entering though, their tutor was late so all his endeavours were futile. Scanning the room, he sat down next to a guy with blonde hair who seemed decent. He befriended Harry before he even settled down in his seat and with a harsh Irish lilt to his voice, he introduced himself as Niall.

“I haven’t seen you around campus before. Are you on exchange from another university or?”

“I’m a photography major,” Harry replied.

“Oh, no wonder. What are you doing around these parts then?” Niall smiled politely.

“The faculty fucked up with my enrolment into some units and I don’t know, I figured I may as well just do this class to make up the credits,” Harry replied bluntly. The words came out a lot harsher than he’d expected, but the blonde kid didn’t seem to notice.

“Aw mate, that sucks. This class should be good though, if that’s anything! I did the corresponding unit to this one last semester with drawing. I mean, I’d never done any of this kind of thing before but it was just so different and eye-opening. The history aspect of it wasn’t too bad either. Jo is an amazing tutor. Before she’s even introduced herself, she will probably impart like, 50 pages worth of knowledge onto you,” Niall laughed.

“Well that’s definitely a plus!? At least Landscape Painting would be more fun than I’ve worked it up to be.”

Niall furrowed his brows at Harry’s comment.

“I’m sorry. I don’t get you?”

Harry gave him a confused look but before he could respond, he was interrupted by the clapping of hands. Harry didn’t even notice the short busty woman with vivid red hair and an outfit taken straight out from the 60s make her way to the front of the class. She put on her glasses that were dangling from a chain around her neck as she tried to gather everyone’s attention.

“Alright! Welcome everyone! My name is Joanna Blake and welcome to FA1298 Life Model Painting!” she said excitedly. Her face lit up and the class could feel her exuding knowledge as if the need to lay down everything she knew upon them was imperative.

Meanwhile, Harry’s face dropped.

Life Model Painting? Life models that he had to paint? He could have sworn that he clicked on the Landscape Painting option when the faculty gave him the list of units that he could partake in this semester.

_Yes, yes, yes. Definitely landscape. No models in sight. Goddamnit Styles, this is last time you enrol in units just off the cuff. Actually no, you idiot. There won’t be a next time because you are not letting this happen to you again. Fuck. Oh Jesus, hasn’t even been five minutes but you’ve already managed to look like an absolute knob in front of Niall._

“I’m sorry, but isn’t this class supposed to be Landscape Painting? I thought we’d be painting the night sky and pretty beaches and flowers in gardens,” Harry blurted out. He immediately regretted it, thinking that it may have come across as potentially rude, but Mrs Blake didn’t seem to take offence to it. Harry did however hear the few scoffs of people around the room and he could have sworn that he could _hear_ eyeballs rolling out of people’s heads at his stupid remark.

“No love, that’s FA1297. I do teach that class as well, so I may see some of you later on today!” she replied brightly as she clasped her hands together. “Anyway, I do see some familiar faces around the room, and I’m so glad that you’ve chosen to do this unit this semester!” Harry turned to Niall and saw him shoot a toothy grin at Jo.

A sinking feeling began to engulf Harry. He knew that if this were one of his photography classes, he could easily switch in and out of classes as he pleased; catching up with work that he may have missed in the introductory classes had never been an issue. But with something that wasn’t his forte, falling behind on work he didn’t know how long it would take to catch up on didn’t seem like the best plan at all— especially if the quality of his work were to be deemed actually passable.

“Anyway in the first half of semester, we are going to focus on the male form and then after the Christmas break, we will focus on the female form. Hopefully what you will take away from this class is an appreciation for the beauty of the human body as well as all the artists that paved the way and made an impact on the art world. As I’m sure some of you have read in the unit guide, the assessment requirements of the unit will consist of two separate folios of work for each half of the semester. This will be completed during class time over the semester. At the end of a unit, there will also be a critical essay to be submitted along with your final folio that should incorporate many of the ideas discussed in theory lessons. Each folio will include at least 3 pieces of work that best demonstrate your understanding of the unit and a selection of drawings, sketches and journal entries that display your developmental and working process,” Jo recited.

 _So much work to pass this unit. Why?!_ Harry sincerely hoped that his face wasn’t giving away how he felt his insides crumbling at the prospect of the road of hard work.

“I know it’s been a flurry with introductions however I want you to get the most out of your time in class to make work outside of class not as stressful. So let’s get those gears into action! We will bring out the model that we will be working with this semester right away. Feel free to start sketching or delve right into painting and I shall come around to get a feel of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and we can all start formulating ideas and themes for your folio pieces! We can always discuss administrative things in our theory class next week!”

Harry decided that he liked Jo. Even though he hadn’t wrapped his head around all the assessment requirements yet, Jo’s warm and accommodating smile made him feel a lot less stressed out in his situation than he could have been.

Everyone began to take out their preferred medium to work with, and Harry quickly followed suit and slowly accepted that there was no turning back now.

Harry wasn’t sure whether it was his self-conscious self and his lack of skill compared to others in the room, the need to impress people he didn’t know or the fact he would have to stare at a real life naked person for the next few hours but either way he felt way more out of his element than he had initially expected. _For god sakes, Styles. Why are suddenly so uncomfortable? Firstly, you’re not that bad at painting. Secondly, hopefully the people around you are polite enough to keep their harsh criticism in their heads. Thirdly, you’ve photographed nude people for folios before and it’s not like you’ve seen yourself naked before. Hell, you see Zayn strutting around the flat completely starkers at least once a day anyway._

Harry’s internal peptalk was interrupted by Jo introducing their model to the class.

“Now class, today will be the first time that our guest will be life modelling so please make him feel comfortable. Class, this is Louis. Louis, this is my lovely FA1298 class.”

Louis gave the class a curt smile but the class didn’t seem to be paying all that much attention. Everyone was still completely enamoured with preparing all their supplies for the next few of hours ahead of them.

Harry on the other hand wasn’t sure whether or not he had picked his bottom jaw from off the floor yet.

Louis, as in sparkling blue eyes and perfected feathery hair Louis, was in front of him in nothing but a robe.

Genuinely afraid that he actually was sitting there with his mouth open, Harry went to touch the bottom of his jaw. 

Louis looked up quickly from the sudden jerky movement he saw to his left. A sense of recognition and comfort washed across his face and any nervousness that he seemed to have knitted between his eyebrows just vanished. He turned the slightest shade of pink before flashing that heart-melting smile towards Harry and gave a tiny wave.

That familiar light, dizzy feeling washed right through Harry’s body again.

_Yes, this is definitely because it’s still early and you’re sleep deprived, Harry. Yes, definitely NOT because he is probably the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen._

Still in a haze, Harry looked down at his hand still resting on his jaw. _Oh god, I go to make sure I’m not looking like an idiot with my mouth wide open but now he thinks I’m waving to him. Wave back Harry, for god sakes wave back!_

Harry seamlessly turned his ‘making sure I’m not looking like a complete twat’ move into a small wave. He saw Louis trying to hold back a small giggle.

Before long, Louis let the robe fall to the ground. Harry scanned across his body as he watched Louis stretch languidly over the chaise. Jo instructed Louis to lie in a position that would be easy to paint for the class first off.

Harry couldn’t move though. He had barely known this boy for a better part of the last half hour, and yet despite his debating internal monologue, one thing that Harry could no longer deny as he gazed across miles of golden tan skin painted with hundreds of tiny, cute freckles dotted aimlessly, was that he was absolutely and flawlessly beautiful.

_Holy fuck, Monday mornings just got that much better._

And with that, he picked up a paintbrush and began to paint.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read so far! :) xx

After ogling over at Louis for the past few hours and having an internal debate over how generous to be when painting his cock, Harry decided to call it a day. He was completely satisfied that the class didn’t go as horrendously horrific as he had mapped it out in his head. He had managed to sketch out a basic outline of his body but there was still plenty of work to be done and after scanning around the room at everyone else’s paintings, yes _plenty_ of work.

At the end of class, Jo informed the class of the readings to be looked up online as well as some extra books that could be borrowed from the library as ‘the more you read, the more easy the exam and essay will be— and I’ll let you know, I’m a tough marker!’

Next class was going to be a theory class. _A theory class. Two hours of inane nonsense going through one ear and out the other. Definitely going to need a double shot of coffee that morning. Oh, I should probably bring my laptop to take notes with. Then again Harry, you know you’ll spend those two hours on Facebook._

Harry didn’t get to say goodbye to Louis after class. As Jo lectured the class as to what was needed to be done before next week, Louis had managed to get dressed and leave quietly. 

As Harry wrapped up his supplies, he said a quick goodbye to Niall and left hastily.

Considering that Harry had convinced himself that his day had already peaked a few hours ago, things now weren’t all that bad. _Definitely in the mood for a brew. Probably too desperate if I go back to that café. Louis did say he was going to say hi to his co-worker didn’t he? Hmmm, whatever. I’ll just go visit Lou._

 

***

 

By this time the café seemed fairly full, the noise of people chattering about god knows what drowning out the already loud background music.

There was a small line queuing up at the register, but Harry managed to make eye contact with Lou and she gave him a smile as she went to make his usual order.

Lou was a few years older than Harry. She had worked at the café all throughout her years at university and after recently finishing a degree in Journalism, had six months before moving to Manchester to start her new job.

When she told Harry she was moving, he suggested she should get a new job to earn some extra income over the six months. However, after numerous nights of sitting down in the café once it had closed for the day with laptops and newspapers sprawled across already washed down tables, any attempts to find Lou a new job were futile. It was just too difficult considering the small timeframe and there were only so many occasions that leftover muffins from the day and coffee outweighed all the effort of job hunting. So she ended up staying at the café.

Harry knew that her boyfriend was an enterprise manager or a business something-something— either way, something that could sustain them both for at least six months anyway.

Harry waved to a few of the familiar faces he knew from visiting the café so often and as another worker came to man both the till and the espresso machine, Harry figured he could take a minute or two of Lou’s time to catch up.

“Hi stranger! How’s your morning been?” she asked, handing his coffee over.

“Not too bad. I’m actually done for the day.”

“By 11:30 am? Seriously? Wow, Zayn probably hasn’t even woken up yet.”

Harry threw his head back and laughed. She was probably right.

“Yeah, just had a three hour class this morning.”

“On a Monday morning? That’s gotta hurt. Well at least you’ve been productive today and now you have the rest of the day to be even more productive and get ahead on your work.”

“Well, what time did you start work today?”

“8:00 am too. But that’s not the point I’m trying to make, Harry!” Lou muttered as her ‘motherly instincts’ started to show (as Harry often liked to say). “Anyway, what are your plans for the rest of the day then, love?” Lou asked as she continued to hand out orders.

“Probably go home and study. I don’t know.”

“You know you won’t be able to concentrate if you go home. Why not just go to the library?”

“I’ve just been there. And plus, my bed is at home, Lou,” Harry whined as scrunched up his nose.

“Oh, for god sakes,” she muttered, not wanting Harry to see her smiling because she was actually semi-serious.

“Anyway I’ll let you get back to work. I’m at uni next on Wednesday. I’ll probably see you then!” Harry said as he leaned over the counter to give her a kiss on the cheek goodbye.

“Sounds wonderful. I’ll see you then, lovely.”

 

***

 

The bus ride home seemed to go quicker than getting to university. Now that he had all the time in the world to do whatever he pleased, time seemed to zip past more quick for Harry. That and he also had his head stuffed into one of the books for his Painting class. He was reluctantly enthralled by figure drawing of the Baroque period so it seemed.

Almost missing his bus stop, Harry hastily gathered all his belongings and stuffed them into his bag before giving a quick wave of thanks to the bus driver and walking the short distance to his flat.

Fingers fumbling with the all too familiar cold, Harry was more than shocked when he was met with an unbelievable burst of hot air as he opened the door.

“For god sakes, Zayn!” Harry yelled out to wherever his roommate was. He could already feel the stuffy heat constricting his throat. “It’s winter in London, not the bloody North Pole.”

Harry dropped his bag by the door and kicked off his shoes off to the side as he began to patter around the flat to try and find where Zayn had gone off to as well as turn the heater down. Harry found him in the kitchen fixing himself a brew.

“Oh hey mate. Didn’t realise you’d be home from uni already. I literally just woke up,” Zayn replied. _Oh wow, Lou was right. I so have to tell her that when I see her next._

“Oh Jesus Christ, I can tell. And I can also tell that despite the freezing cold, you still decided to sleep commando,” Harry said, purposely turning his body to look away because to be honest, he had already seen enough naked bodies for one morning.

Zayn looked down then started posing.

“Don’t you know, Haz? If you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

“Yeah I’m all for self expression, mate. Now why don’t you go and flaunt some pants on? And don’t you have work?”

“Yeah, I’m working the late afternoon to evening shift at the record store. So you get to wine and dine on your own tonight,” Zayn said as he went to turn the heater down.

Harry half rolled his eyes as he made a beeline for his own room. _Power nap then study._

In the back of his mind, he knew his half an hour power nap would turn into three hours but he didn’t mind. It was still the beginning of the semester so he could afford to procrastinate for the first two weeks before work started piling up. Three weeks if he really wanted to stretch it.

 

***

 

Zayn pottered around the flat and flopped down onto the couch with his bowl of cereal and a good dose of Project Runway before getting ready for work.

Zayn and Harry had known each other since before they could remember. Quite literally. Harry was pretty sure that they even went to kindergarten together, but Zayn had wiped that part of his life out of his brain (It wasn’t until they found photos a few years back that Zayn believed him and insisted he was still the better looking one out of both of them, even back then.)

Despite other friends drifting in and out of their lives throughout primary school and high school, in the end they could always count on each other. And even though Harry would never actually admit it to his face, he was grateful to have a friend like Zayn.

Growing up, Harry and Zayn also shared a lot of the same interests— especially photography.

During boring math lessons in their final year of school, they discussed how their career plan would consist of starting their own freelance business, becoming successful and taking photos for niche hipster bands that Zayn deemed worthy of their presence.

Harry, being the more realistic of the two, actually reasoned that they probably should start by studying it properly in university.

And so they did.

Until Zayn dropped out of the course after the first four weeks.

He articulated to both Harry and his mum that his master plan of ‘Harry will be the brains and I will be the go-getter. Harry will probably have a little graphic design under his belt after getting his degree so he can be at the business end whilst I can be at the doing end. If I earn little gigs here and there working for whatever company is willing whilst Harry is at uni, then at least I’ll be able to build a reputation. And once Harry graduates, we will be unstoppable.’

Harry argued that it was due to laziness and his ability to not commit but hey, Zayn’s argument was alright too.

Surprisingly, Zayn did stick by his word. He had a small role working as a photographer at a local street press magazine. The publishing company also hosted a local radio station that was funded by community donations. Zayn also helped out with graphic design for promotion here and there for it. And in the hours that he wasn’t working there, he worked at a record store. 

Living with his best friend in a friendly part of town as well working two jobs that he loved made Zayn comfortably content with how their grand career plan was going.

 

***

 

Even though the rest of Harry’s week seemed like nothing out of the ordinary; between the monotonous lectures, mulling over course work and helping Zayn out with lighting and design for a couple of photoshoots he had with a local grunge band, Harry couldn’t help but let his mind slip and replay over last Monday morning.

He didn’t even know why. There was just something so captivating and ethereally beautiful about Louis that Harry couldn’t help but attempt to commit every word, every movement, every feeling to memory.

And everytime Harry found himself thinking about it, he’d double take and realise that over analysing it probably wasn’t healthy.

During the week, he resisted going back to the café. Partly because that morning had been so whimsical, he wanted to keep it as it was. And partly because he was nervous? Scared? Either way, the thought of seeing Louis again made his stomach go into multiple backflips.

But when the following Monday came around, he caved in.

Louis wasn’t going to be at class this time because it was a theory lesson, and Harry wasn’t sure he could wait another week before talking to the boy that fascinated him so much again.

He even caught an earlier bus just to have more time to talk with Louis. _7:20 am. Forty minutes early for a class. Is that pathetically creepy? Fuck, I hope he doesn’t think I purposely came here early so I could talk with him._

As Harry got closer to the café, he slowed down his pace. He felt himself grow a little light-headed and overwhelmed.

_Hold up, Styles. You’re not playing hard to get are you? He’s just a potential friend for god sakes not someone you had a one night stand with and are waiting for a socially appropriate time to talk to them again. For the love of god, please don’t scare the poor boy._

“For fuck sakes, brain. You need a coffee.”

 

***

 

Peeking through the window, he saw Louis standing there mindlessly fixing his hair in his reflection of the table top counter.

Ignoring the nerves that were sitting in the pit of his stomach, he went inside. Louis looked up towards him and smiled brightly. Harry could help but smile just as ridiculously wide back.

“Harry! How are you?”

Even the way that Harry heard his name roll off of Louis’s tongue made him feel flustered. He trotted over to the counter, wondering if Louis knew how close he was to having a minor heart attack.

“I’m alright. How’s your night been?”

“Not too bad. I think I’ve wiped down the bench and tables about 8 times; pretty sure you could eat straight off it. Anyway, what would you like today?”

“Just a cappuccino, please,” Harry replied.

Louis went to work straight away and Harry peered around the café aimlessly, wondering whether or not to bring the Painting class up. He briefly thanked whatever God was up there when Louis broke the ice.

“So, I didn’t realise that the class you had was that Painting class, eh? This should be awkward now, shouldn’t it? Or have I inadvertently just made it awkward by saying that?” Louis said as he dusted some extra chocolate on Harry’s cappuccino for good measure.

Harry stared at him completely dumbfounded. Was there even any standard conversation protocol in peculiar situations like this? Harry ended up staring into clear, blue eyes and admiring the perfect swoop of his hair for what longer than probably seemed normal before turning away quickly and attempting to stammer out a pathetic answer.

“Hey, if anything, I should be the one finding this really awkward, not you. It’s not like I can immediately picture you with your junk out on display,” Louis said as he placed two cappuccinos onto a tray.

Harry laughed hysterically as he felt himself ease up.

“C’mon you. On the house,” Louis smiled softly as he brought drinks for both of them onto a nearby table.

 

***

 

“So Louis, I didn’t realise you did modelling apart from working here,” Harry said. He was pathetically excitedly about having ‘get to know Louis’ time before heading off to class.

“Well I guess I only started having two jobs as of last Monday. I mean it’s only every now and then but whatever, more money for things other than rent, I guess.”

“Holy shit, so last week you pretty much worked from midnight to 11 am. How did you hold up?” Harry asked, the immensity of such ridiculous hours only hitting him now.

“Needless to say, I fucking crashed as soon as I got home. Woke up at about 6-ish, watched my nightly dose of reality TV then went back to sleep.”

“Well at least sleeping all day is justified! I’m lucky to find my roommate even awake whenever I’m at home. Anyway so where did you work before working at this café?”

“I moved to London a couple of years ago so I haven’t really had any other jobs apart from this one. I moved down for uni before dropping out.”

“Really? What were you studying?”

“I was doing a Bachelor of Music,” Louis said. Harry could hear a slight edge of bitterness in his voice, but only because he was listening so intently.

“Seriously? God, that’s so hard to get into. Did you have a shit ton of interviews and auditions beforehand?”

“Yeah, I mean I was so chuffed when I got into my course but the whole hype surrounding it and the things that the faculty expects from you was just so taxing. I finished a year of it but after that, I just felt like any beauty that I found in music was just gone. They seemed to like, I don’t know, create an image in my head of what good music is and why it is. It just wasn’t me, I guess. But yeah, I deferred to figure out what I wanted to do and just continued working here. Still haven’t decided what I want to do though. What about you, Harry? What are you studying again?”

“Fine Arts. Majoring in photography. All part of my best mate’s plan to ‘revolutionise the industry’,” Harry said rolling his eyes sarcastically.

“Revolutionise the industry? Haha, I like a man with ambition!”

“Oh please, Zayn’s head would get even bigger if he heard you say that! We moved down to London at the beginning of last year. He dropped out but is working a couple of jobs in the field now while I’m still finishing off my degree. I worked at the bakery down the street from our place last year but poor Mrs Baker went bankrupt and it closed down. So I am definitely fitting into that typical unemployed uni student stereotype now.”

Louis furrowed his brows at Harry’s comment before giggling.

“You worked at a bakery where the owner was called Mrs Baker? Classic!”

Harry laughed before shaking his head.

“And you’ve probably heard that plenty of times before, haven’t you?” Louis added. Harry nodded his head mechanically in response.

“Back home in Doncaster, I worked in hospitality and then retail for awhile before going back to hospitality now that I’m down here in London. Oh, and I had a one week stint at my mum’s hairdressing salon.”

“A week? What happened?” Harry said, raising an eyebrow.

“I love my mum to death, don’t get me wrong. But it’s not fun being introduced to customers as ‘my liddle widdle Louiscakes’,” he said bluntly.

Harry burst out laughing, toppling himself over the table. Louis resisted laughing at the embarrassing memory, but couldn’t help but laugh at Harry’s reaction.

“Aw, that’s gold. Louiscakes? Sounds delicious.”

“Honey, I’m all sweet on the inside,” Louis winked. Harry gave him a cheeky grin. “Anyway, it’s actually through that that I know Joanna— Mrs Blake. She’s friends with my mum and the one who got me the job here because Grace, our manager, is her sister. She was also looking for people for her life modelling class so I thought I may as well give it a go.”

“How do you find it though?” Harry asked inquisitively. He hoped he didn’t seem too prying or offensive by asking.

“I don’t know, I find it really— empowering? My parents divorced when I was a teenager so for at least a good year or so chocolate chip muffins and crisps were my best friends. And then during that time, I also came out and— I was just in a really bad place during my late teens. So, I guess this is completely on the other side of the self-confidence spectrum but I’ve got nothing to hide now. I’ve worked so hard to be comfortable in my own skin and to accept my flaws especially if I do still have a little bit of puppy fat,” Louis giggled softly as he poked himself in the belly.

Harry was mesmerised by the way Louis spoke so freely and articulately. His honest words seemed to just erupt out from him and just be so— beautiful.

He was enthralled from the way that Louis spoke; the way that his eyes pierced through him as if nothing else was important, the way he over exaggerated his hand gestures when telling a funny story, the way his eyelashes splayed across his cheeks when he looked down, the way he flicked the fringe of his windswept mop of brown hair mid-sentence. But especially, Harry loved the way that his laugh faintly echoed against the walls of the tiny building. _I’d forgotten how beautiful that sounded from last Monday. Jesus Christ, what is this boy doing to me?_

Harry reached over the table to place his over Louis’s. He wasn’t sure what it meant but something along the lines of support? Understanding? Empathy?

They both looked down to where they were both touching. Harry didn’t dare to look at Louis in the eye. He was afraid of the intensity in his stare.

Soon enough, the gesture had passed the timeframe of friendliness onto awkwardness and the two of them flinched away.

Harry looked up at Louis but unlike a few moments ago, there was something there that wasn’t there before. Something unreadable. But at the same time, it felt as if everything else around them didn’t matter except for simple pleasures of friendship. Or something more?

“Anyway, I better start heading off to class,” Harry said softly. Louis nodded small in response as he placed their empty cups back onto the tray.

As Harry began to leave, he heard Louis calling his name out quietly, breaking the unusual silence in the small café.

“I’ve really enjoyed talking to you today,” Louis said, cheeks slightly flushed. Harry felt himself blushing shyly under the small compliment.

“Me too.”


End file.
